The Phoenix Project: developing the educational resilience of children in difficulty

The literature converges in identifying the serious and persistent impact of socio-cultural deprivation on childhood (Kreppner, O’Connor, Rutter, 2001; De Bellis, 2005). The lack of financial and cultural resources, malnutrition, low levels of parental care, absence of stimulation, poor or inaffective social relations, there are only some of the numerous risk factors which endanger the healthy development of children. The effects of life in deprived environments impact in particular on the cognitive learning capacities of the child and on their emotional wellbeing (Miller et al, 1995; Miller, Hendrie, 2000; Durbrow, SLchaefer, Jimerson, 2000). Although school may lack the resources to impact positively on many of the risk factors, it can still contribute significantly to the healthy development of pupils in difficulty, with targeted inventions aimed at fostering educational resilience. This is the focus Phoenix Project, a didactic laboratory focused on cognitive and motivational improvement for children suffering from educational lag. In this article the Authors summarize the guiding principles of the Phoenix Project, its methological-didactic aspects and the results of initial experiments implemented in two very different environments: Brazil and Italy. The project was actually started and implemented, in its first phase, with Brazilian children from a poor quarter of Salvador de Bahia, and it was then tested out with Italian and emigrant pupils in difficult circumstances from Piedmont.